Saugusbank merging with North Shore Bank

Thursday

Aug 28, 2014 at 8:00 AM

By Kate Evanskevans@wickedlocal.com

Saugusbank will merge with North Shore Bank on Labor Day, in a six-community expansion that will consist of 11 branches, 150 employees and $700 million in assets.The three branches of Saugusbank in Saugus will join North Shore Bank’s eight branches on Sept. 1, referred to from then on as North Shore Bank.Demands on regulatory requirements and interest rates have led both bank presidents to team up based on their similar values, philosophies and commitment."Because of the synergies between our two organizations we believe we can do more together than we would individually," said Saugusbank President and CEO Kevin M. Tierney, Sr.After the merge, Tierney will serve as the president and chief operating officer of North Shore Bank and its parent company North Shore Bancorp. North Shore Bank President and CEO David J. LaFlamme will serve as the chief executive officer of the bank and Bancorp."We have similar cultures," said LaFlamme. "Geographically it made all kinds of sense with Peabody and Saugus — there’s close ties between the two communities."North Shore Bank is based out of Peabody but also has branches in Beverly, Danvers, Middleton, Peabody and Salem.The merge under a microscopeTierney has wanted to expand Saugusbank for some time now but felt limited by the bank’s name."While Saugusbank has a strong brand, it is not a name that plays well in a larger region," Tierney said. "We like the name North Shore Bank because it’s representative of all of the communities that we’re going to serve in a broader geographic region."Tierney and LaFlamme first began discussing a merge in the fall of 2013. By February of this year they signed an agreement. The two institutions have since gone through a regulatory approval process, obtaining customer and corporate approvals.Now, employees of both banks remain transparent with customers in terms of fees, level of service and what to expect with the merge. Tierney said customers mostly inquire about employees and inconveniences.The merge won’t result in any layoffs. In fact, many of the staff that customers know will continue to work in the same locations. LaFlamme said the merger may create openings for employees within the organization — such as positions that do not currently exist at the banks.Tierney and LaFlamme foresee little to no inconveniences for customers during the merge. It is even unlikely that account numbers will change. The presidents couldn’t promise that none would change in the case that a couple overlap, but they said 99 percent of account numbers will remain the same."It might be easier to operationally change [the account numbers of] everybody but that’s not the approach we’re taking," Tierney said. "We want things to be the same, but a lot better."The bank will remain open during the merge. Many changes have already begun — Saugusbank signs and awnings have been removed and more North Shore Bank signs will be added over Labor Day weekend. The bank will be closed on Monday (for the holiday) and open the following day.A bigger, better bankThe merge will certainly increase the bank’s scale, but growth may not stop here. In fact, Tierney and LaFlamme have plans to continue its development even after the merger."It’s logical to expect that since we both have a vision to grow and geographically grow that we in the not too distant future open additional branches," Tierney said.In the meantime, the banks have been upgrading their technology in order to keep up with competition.Marketing Director David Monroe has been tweaking the bank’s mobile banking to make it so customers can deposit cash and checks through their phones."These things that we’re talking about from at each standpoint, we probably couldn’t have done on an individual basis but combined we can do it," LaFlamme said.The merge will also help North Shore Bank become more competitive."Most banks offer similar type of products and it’s difficult for us to keep up with the technologies of the Banks of America of the world," LaFlamme said. "We try to differentiate through the personal service that we provide to our customers."Once merged, Tierney and LaFlamme will divide up their duties based on strengths. Tierney will focus on the Internet technology and the retail side of operations, while LaFlamme will stick with commercial dealings.The merge gives North Shore Bank the capacity to pursue larger businesses as customers. As smaller banks, they were often outgrown by businesses needing larger loans. Now, North Shore Bank will have greater lending capacity to keep some of those growing businesses as clients.North Shore Bank currently offers cash management solutions — something Saugusbank does not, but will soon be able to under the merge.All in all, Tierney and LaFlamme want to emphasize that customers won’t see any negative impacts from the merge. Instead, they are aiming for just the opposite."My hope is that we can continue to deliver on our customers’ expectations and deliver on the promise we’ve made relative to putting this merger together," LaFlamme said. "I hope that there’s only minor glitches as we go through this … now that we’ve brought together in a pooling of interest, now we are going to grow organically at a fairly measured but deliberate rate over the next couple of years."